Visit Guide for Primary Teachers

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Visit guide for primary teachers South Africa: the art of a nation Logistics partner

Visit guide for primary teachers South Africa: the art of a nation Planning your visit Introduction to the exhibition Provide a focus for students to keep in mind as they explore the exhibition and which you can follow up South African archaeology preserves some of the afterwards earliest evidence for artistic thought and production  Do some preparatory work in school to develop the anywhere in the world, beginning over three million focus of the visit and familiarise students with the years ago. Today, South African artists frequently work content of the exhibition in a dialogue with the past, creating contemporary art  Allow students some scope to explore and find that provides unique insights into South African history. objects that interest them This exhibition shows art from South Africa from the past to the present, and provides a unique insight into Curriculum Links what it means to be South African. The exhibition offers opportunities in the following curriculum areas and for cross-curricular work: Using the exhibition In advance History: Nelson Mandela, apartheid, the anti-apartheid Decide on a focus for the visit and a follow up activity. movement, protest, black history, hidden histories Use the image bank to familiarise students with some of the exhibition content. Download and adapt Art and Design: Contemporary art and artists, colour, worksheets to meet your needs. Go through exhibition shape, pattern, materials, abstract art, collage, activities with the students and accompanying adults indigenous art beforehand.

PSHE and Citizenship: self-identity, community identity, On the day human rights and encountering and responding to other Encourage adults to allow students to linger at objects cultures which interest them and to discuss what they see and share ideas as they go round. Remind students to behave calmly and politely. Photography is not allowed in the exhibition, but students may take photographs in the Museum’s permanent galleries.

Afterwards Use what the students have gathered in the exhibition/Museum galleries for follow up activities back at school.

Transitions by Willie Bester (1993) The ‘big’ questions Pose a big question for students to keep in mind during Using this resource their visit to the exhibition. Here are some possible This resource is designed to support your visit to the examples: South African Art: The Art of a Nation exhibition.  Which did I think, and why, was the most interesting It offers opportunities to work the exhibition into object in the exhibition? learning across the curriculum. To accompany this  What did I learn about the history of South Africa resource there is a downloadable powerpoint image that I did not know before? bank and a set of worksheets that can be adapted to  What sources of evidence did the exhibition include suit the needs of your students. and how useful did I find these for learning about people in the past?  How can contemporary art be used to understand social, historical and emotional environments?  How powerful is art as a way to explore history?

Visit guide for teachers South African Art: The Art of a Nation 3 alongside more recent and contemporary pieces that Exhibition themes encourage people to challenge official knowledge sanctioned by the apartheid state.

Section 1: Introduction Section 4: European and Asian Arrivals and Colonial Conflicts (c. AD 1652 to 1910) This section introduces the art of South Africa’s first people San|Bushmen|Khoekhoen through one historic Section 4 explores the arrival of non-African populations and one contemporary artwork. It will explain that and the later encounters and conflicts between colonial although rock art is no longer practiced in South Africa, settlers and southern African societies. Beginning with descendants of San|Bushmen|Khoekhoen are returning the arrival of the first Dutch settlers in 1652 before to their histories to produce new artworks in new including British, Dutch East Indies, Chinese, and Indian mediums. It will also explore the importance of rock art immigrations. The following section then discusses a today as it is used in the post-apartheid South African selection of colonial conflicts including the Anglo-Zulu Coat of Arms. In each section the juxtaposition of one War and Second South African War of the late 19th and historic and one contemporary artwork introduces the very early 20th centuries. way in which contemporary South African art often enters into a dialogue with the past. Section 5: Rural South African Art (AD 1800 to 1900)

Section 2: Early Art (c. 3,000,000 to 2000 years before This section focuses on rural South African art from the present) 19th century and social values and beliefs at this time. These artworks today are a proud part of South Africa’s Focusing on the display of five key artworks from South artistic heritage, but their existence is also related to Africa’s deep past; this section introduces visitors to the colonial collecting practices. idea of the development of artistic behaviour throughout history. The artworks introduce various ideas such as symbolic thought, the movement toward the production of aesthetically pleasing objects, early decoration, and early two dimensional figurative art. These artworks are placed in dialogue with two contemporary artworks, by the artist Karel Nel. Nel has often engaged his art with science and the deep past, for example, the early twentieth century discovery that modern human activities first appeared in southern Africa, and on other works his use of red and white ochre as both a reference to ancient artistic traditions in South Africa and the colour divide of apartheid.

Section 3: Sculpture (c. AD 500 to 1650)

Following the migration of Bantu-speakers into the Section 6: Experiencing and Resisting Segregation and region, this section explores how the shift from more Apartheid (c. AD 1910 to 1989) and Transformation (c. dispersed, small-scale societies to more centralised and AD 1990 to Present) hierarchical ones, in the first millennium AD, led to new developments in artistic production, such as the This section looks at the issue of segregation through creation of three dimensional figurative art and the use of art works and protest such as Ndebele specialised artisans attached to states. These artworks traditional beadwork and photographs of richly are important in contemporary South Africa for many decorated Ndebele houses in response to displacement. It also explores Resistance Art from the apartheid era reasons, not least because they are evidence that and Anti-Apartheid Movement badges. Key artworks complex, sedentary, Bantu-speaking societies existed in that explore the ‘Transformation’ of South Africa from the region immediately prior to the arrival of European an apartheid state into a democratic nation are explored settlers. In this section iconic historic art works sit and how the period of transformation extends to the present. Visit guide for teachers South African Art: The Art of a Nation 4 PSHE and Citizenship The narrative discusses historic events and issues relevant to transformation such as the first democratic elections, the idea of the Rainbow Nation, the Spotlight object: persistence of the landscape of apartheid, the legacy of The Black Photo Album / Look At Me: Santu Mafokeng apartheid and the contemporary and future identity of (1997) and Pantomime Act Trilogy: Johannes Phokela South Africa. (1999). Slide 3 and 4 in the accompanying powerpoint.

Follow up activities:  Debate the potential relationship between existing and new settlers living alongside each other – should existing settlers insist that everybody follows their culture, should new settlers keep their culture?  Explore the idea of families, race and identity by exploring the art work Black Photo album.  Using Johannes Phokela’s work, explore the impact of western charity in the developing world and discuss why the child in the centre wears a red nose made famous by UK charity Comic Relief. Curricular opportunities Art and Design in 6 objects. 6 objects that you can explore to compliment History, Spotlight object: PSHE and Citizenship and Art and Design with South African Colouring Book - Gavin Jantjes and suggested activities. Each object is cross curricular and Transitions by Willie Bester. Slide 5 and 6 in the can be used to teach all subjects above. accompanying power point.

History  Explore the use of collage and colour in Gavin Jantjes work to make a political statement. Compare to other Spotlight objects: contemporary artists that also use art to send powerful Anti-apartheid badges (artist(s) unrecorded) and A a message. Reversed Retrogress by Mary Sibande. Slide 1 and 2 in  the accompanying powerpoint. Bester's works are collages assembled from scraps and junk from flea markets, found objects and Follow up activities: newspaper clippings, combined with the use of oil paints and photographs. The themes of the art works stem from the political issues of the time: forced  Badges were worn to demonstrate personal support for anti-apartheid campaigns. Use removals and brutalisation, crime, greed, poverty and them to think about the range of methods used corruption. Using your identity as inspiration, create an inside and outside South Africa to oppose art work either as individuals as a group using foraged apartheid. materials.  Compare the badges with other types of Compare and contrast two art works from the evidence from the time and debate how useful exhibition. Explore what they are trying to tell the they are in helping us to understand anti- viewer about the past or the present. apartheid protest movements.  Throughout history, artists and designers like Mary Sibande have highlighted the key issues for society in their work. Select examples from across the exhibition and assess what issues they raise and how these fit into the timeline of South Africa’s past.

Visit guide for teachers South African Art: The Art of a Nation 5